Member

I don't think you've been blocked then, I think that's the chat loading screen. You seem to be in the clear. So possibly the issue isn't for every user, or possibly there is just a technical issue of some sort.

I guess we'll find out once if possibly a news site asks a sony representative or one in here pops up.

Banned

sony Microsoft and Nintendo are absolutely the worst. why is it working with apple and steam. while the big 3 wont do this?!
i had so many problems with sony and Microsoft, so i really would love to see some. change here.

Member

sony Microsoft and Nintendo are absolutely the worst. why is it working with apple and steam. while the big 3 wont do this?!
i had so many problems with sony and Microsoft, so i really would love to see some. change here.

Member

it's definitely possible but I just want to echo that the guy who said that 'you've been trying multiple times and it was flagged as spam' is utter horseshit because on the first time I tried it, a month+ after the one time I tried it for NMS, it took me to the 'it can't be accessed' screen.

Then I just tried a different ID and it let me go to the white chat load screen. So clearly there's something happening specifically with this account of mine. And it doesn't help the other guys in here saying they can't access chat were also folks who got refunds recently.

Member

e.g. I see people advising against buying Sony mobile phones just because their service support is so shitty. Sony support in general has a really bad reputation and they are going downhill in every category in my eyes. (mobile, TV.. etc )

Member

The worst thing with Sony support in the UK is there is no live chat, so contact must be made by phone or email.

When you contact by phone the support team can only escalate issues, they have no power to provide authority on things like refunds.

When an issue is escalated the turnaround time is ridiculous. When the escalation team do get in touch the first thing they advise you to do is troubleshooting, even though you've gone through that with your initial support call. They would know this, because the first tier support can only escalate a case when you've first gone through troubleshooting.

You reply and then have to wait another crap load of time for a response, and this time the response asks you whether you have contacted the developer, if you have you need to provide a reference number, or proof in writing of contact.

You then have to wait a crap load more time and you're given another run around. Bare in mind that as the case has been escalated any contact made by phone to support is fruitless as they simply adivse you that they are unable to do anything, aside from another "escalation".

I'd like to see someone in the UK contact the support team and get a refund for a game that hasn't publically had major issues with it i.e no man's sky, or driveclub at launch etc

Contrast this to something like Steam or Origin where refunds are painless, or even Apple. Sony's customer support is generally terrible. There are obviously always exceptions, I'm sure some people have had good service. There are exceptions with a company like Apple too having cases where customer service is bad.

My issue is people on this forum for example in other threads that try and portray Sony as having good customer service. The processes they have in place are not customer centric by design. There is no way in hell that anyone could say Sony are in a category of good customer service, companies like Amazon, Apple etc are.

Member

I'm pretty sure my account has exhibited this behavior since I got a refund for the PS4 version of SFIV. I've gotten a few refunds via phone support with little hassle but am unable to use chat for support.

The fact that they have an automated process in place that "blocks" a customer from contacting support too many times in a short amount of time tells me all I need to know about their value of customers.

A customer could have a genuine reason for contacting several times. It's bullshit, but it won't change as they're working within the confines of the law.

At the very least perhaps a media outlet might pick up on this story and test it out, and perhaps then contact Sony for an official statement. It would be interesting to see them try and wriggle out of it with proof that shows it wasn't a case of contacting support too many times, but because they had received a refund.

Also how can a refund for faulty goods be considered a good will gesture lol. A good will gesture would be if they gave you a refund because you didn't like a game, or had buyers remorse. But a faulty product refund is good will? Fuck whoever at Sony decided that.

I think in this particular case, your country of residence does matter because certain countries they have preorder cancellation policies that are decent while in others if they don't have to they won't allow you to do it easily.

The dream for a publisher is to remove half the game unless you pre-order and have a 6 month review embargo from release.

Seriously it's only a matter of time before pre-order bonuses contain more than a dynamic theme, and some "skins", and contain essential stuff to entice people to part with their cash early.

And if digital ever becomes our only option, they'll have killed off the used market like they want, but the next thing will be pushing for no refunds, or an extremely convoluted refund policy so they can really fuck us.

Yeah I know "hyperbole much" but for me personally it feels like the gaming industry isn't even trying to hide that it want's to milk customers for all their worth, micro transactions are pretty much in every game now and I hate it. I wish a law passed that made micro transactions only possible in free to play games. They have no place in a $60 game.

I remember the days where any unlocks used to be locked behind completing a game or doing certain tasks, but nope now it's locked behind paywalls.

Member

Add me to the "banned" support chat list as well, I am assuming this is regarding their horrible bs when I tried to cancel my pre-order of NMS so I could take my friend up on his offer of the Limited Edition physical copy.

I had made it damn clear that I was going to be buying the game either way, but had no need for the digital version, they claimed I had already gotten ONE refund in the past "as a gesture of goodwill" so they would NOT refund me the digital game. I told my friend I was stuck so I kept the digital copy.

Oh and the game I refunded in the past was the $10 Tetris game that launched with massive lag and a broken multiplayer system. Yup that one....

I had no idea they were banning us from chat, I always assumed their chat links were just broken but as you guys suggested, I tried using my wife's account instead and fuck me it magically worked....

They have the worst customer service on earth PERIOD and because of their popularity they clearly give zero shits who they throw under the bus.

Member

Member

I think I might send a tip to some gaming media personalities to discuss it either on podcast or website form. Hopefully this gets bigger attention. I understand know it has been going on for a while but if so it's even worst that it went without attention for this long.

Dot Hacked

Not being able ta cancel a pre-order is craziness. You can do it at any retail or online store so whys Sony acting like an exception to the standard? Plus ya not only gotta put money down, but the whole full price of the game? Sheesh. Imagine the outrage that'd come down if gamestop made their pre-order price the cost of the game rather than the min. $5 down! Sounds like sony needs to be taken down another peg or two again.

Can confirm. I have requested several refunds from xbox live and all of them were done within minutes. I just told the agent I would like a refund because I wanted to buy a different version. They just said they would gladly to do that.

Member

I think I might send a tip to some gaming media personalities to discuss it either on podcast or website form. Hopefully this gets bigger attention. I understand know it has been going on for a while but if so it's even worst that it went without attention for this long.

good luck convincing spiteful people to vote them worst company due to customer support. Not like it'd be deserved with banks out there fucking over people in a more meaningful manner, but folks won't care unless it's a more direct way to fuck with them like charging a lot of money or releasing broken games.

Member

I think there is some sort of weird glitch where your account is considered spam. Giving them the benefit of the doubt here and trusting him. Sony aren't best known for their competence when it comes to online infrastructures so it makes him believable.

Member

I think there is some sort of weird glitch where your account is considered spam. Giving them the benefit of the doubt here and trusting him. Sony aren't best known for their competence when it comes to online infrastructures so it makes him believable.

Member

I think there is some sort of weird glitch where your account is considered spam. Giving them the benefit of the doubt here and trusting him. Sony aren't best known for their competence when it comes to online infrastructures so it makes him believable.

the benefit of the doubt will be given, but I'm already extremely wary when folks seem to be all correlated with having requested a refund/cancellation prior and trying with other accounts only for their shit to go through, despite it happening on the first attempt.

Member

I can confirm that they do in fact block via chat, i am blocked from psn chat, but not for Playstation issues. I had to return a TV 3 times because of blooming, then a month later my hdmi chip went up in my ps4. No chat, I was blocked. 6 months later TV went up again, blocked from TV support as well.

I will say though, I had everything fixed by Sony each and every time by just calling. No problem what so ever.

So it's only chat based, so made they are just using a filter for repeat chatters. As I said no issue via phone each time

Member

I can also confirm they block ids. I have never refunded a game and they still blocked me because I contacted them multiple times regarding an open case, my download que is glitched on the server side and requires them to remove a bugged download, and now my PSN ID is blocked because I checked every week for updates for a month. They still haven't fixed the problem.

Member

So has Sony ever refunded a pre-order? If the answer is no they can fuck off. As far as I'm concerned that's criminal. Do yourselves a favour, never, ever, EVER pre-order anything digital from Sony. Never.
I never have and I never will. In fact I think I've only ever bought two things digitally from Sony in 10 years. Digital sales are anti-consumer. Don't do it.